GEORGETOWN, GUYANA – In a fiery and emotionally charged address, APNU+AFC Prime Ministerial candidate Juretha Fernandes tore into the ruling PPP government, laying bare what she described as a “system of calculated neglect, targeted suppression, and moral decay.” Speaking to a sea of supporters, Fernandes painted a grim but all-too-familiar picture of Guyana’s broken promises, broken communities, and a government fatally out of touch with its people.
“If you’ve been voting for them all these years and you’re still poor, still punishing, your children still being abused, what exactly are you voting for?” Fernandes demanded, her voice rising with each word. “This is your time to rise.”
Fernandes did not spare the government’s well-oiled propaganda machine either, accusing it of “feeding lies to desperate people until they start to sound like truth.” She blasted the PPP’s manipulation of the press and failure to invest in communities they claim to serve, from the coastland to the heart of the hinterland.
Fernandes called out what she deemed one of the PPP’s most “cold-hearted betrayals”, the deliberate sabotage of the Linden Enterprise Network. “Hundreds of millions were sitting there to empower small businesses in Linden,” she said. “But since 2020, not a dime was disbursed because they refused to appoint a board. They want you begging. They need you to need them.”
It was a clear accusation: the PPP thrives on keeping communities poor, disempowered, and dependent.
While the PPP parades in photo ops, Fernandes said the real Guyana is left to rot. “They don’t care about you unless you serve their political interests. Even in their strongholds, the people are poor, the schools are broken, and the children are suffering,” she thundered.
The Prime Ministerial candidate issued a rallying cry to Indigenous communities, who she said have been manipulated and betrayed for far too long. “They painted us as people who are satisfied to live in shacks, to walk in mud, to be grateful for crumbs,” Fernandes said. “But that’s their image of us, not ours. We want homes, businesses, healthcare, education. And under an APNU government, we will have it.”
She vowed that Indigenous families would receive direct payments from carbon credit revenues under a new 50% model, not just trickle-down allocations to community leaders.
Fernandes condemned what she called the PPP’s “complete collapse of moral leadership,” linking the normalization of violence in society to the conduct of the ruling party’s own leaders in Parliament. “When we see women being raped and videoed, when we hear of murdered children and missing girls, where is the government? Where is the outrage? They do nothing.”
In one chilling revelation, she broke news of a missing Indigenous girl who has been gone for over two months, with no meaningful police action taken. “They better get boots on the ground and return that child,” Fernandes warned. “Indigenous children matter just like every other child.”
“Guyana has a $1.382 trillion budget,” Fernandes reminded the crowd. “So why are the roads in Linden still crumbling? Why are there no medicines in Indigenous villages? Why are children going to school hungry and being abused in silence?” Her question hung heavy in the air. “Where is the money going?”
What emerged from Fernandes’ speech was a defiant rejection of a system built not to serve, but to subjugate. She accused the PPP of creating an elite class while condemning the rest of the country to economic serfdom. “They flash their fancy lifestyles in front of us while we struggle. But this time, we choose differently. This time, we rise.”
She closed by delivering a personal endorsement of APNU Leader Aubrey Norton, saying, “I have vetted him. He has walked this road with us. He is the man to lead this country out of this mess.”
“Wake up. Vote. Mobilize every region,” Fernandes urged. “Come September 1, we’re taking our country back.”
